Tun Mahathir experienced various new technology and innovation during his trip to China.

China is always close to my heart because I lived and worked there for 10 years before moving back to Malaysia. I saw how China grew especially in terms of technology and innovation. A country that used to be called a ‘copycat’ is now in the forefront of tech and innovation.

I’ve been following Tun M’s visit to Hangzhou and Beijing over the past few days and here’s a list of technology and innovation our Prime Minister witnessed and experienced so far.

1. China’s Bullet Train

Tun Mahathir was riding the ‘Fuxing’ (Rejuvenation) bullet train from Hangzhou to Shanghai. Just over 10 years ago, China had no bullet train. Today, it has the biggest bullet train network in the world.

2. e-commerce by Alibaba

Alibaba.com the primary company of Alibaba, is as of 2014, the world’s largest online business-to-business trading platform for small businesses. In the video below, Jack Ma was seen explaining how the future of commerce will be C2B or Consumers to Businesses.

3. Artificial Intelligence and Robotics by Alibaba

In a Facebook live video shared by the Minister of International Trade and Industry YB Darell Leiking, the staff at Alibaba was demonstrating a robotic vacuum cleaner was activated by using voice commands.

4. Geely’s Plug-in Hybrid

Tun Mahathir was also given the opportunity to test drive the latest Geely Bo Rui GE Sedan which is the company’s flagship model.

5. Drone by DJI

DJI is one of China’s biggest success stories in innovation. They are now the world’s leader in commercial and civilian drone industry, accounting for over 70% of the drone market.

Tun Mahathir’s visit to all these facilities isn’t just an ordinary arrangement. Tun is seriously looking into some of these technologies to be adopted for Malaysia aligned with the country’s aspiration to go into IR4.0.

[Video and photo credit: Darell Leiking FB and Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Malaysia FB]